Both the Swedish public and employees take part in brand research

Riksgäldskontoret, is an authority with proud ancestors since it was founded by Gustaf the 3rd in 1789. But what does it stand for today? In cooperation with Storåkers McCann, Riksgäldskontoret has started a branding campaign in order to create a clear and distinct identity internally as well as externally.

"Riksgäldskontoret consists of four separate businesses with half a million private clients. However it is difficult to see the entire business as a whole, even for the employees," says Marja Lång.

Two surveys were conducted by Zapera at the same time in order to create a good foundation for the branding campaign. One of the surveys was directed towards the 150 employees and the other one to the Swedish public. Furthermore a special committee of experts were chosen so that Zapera could demonstrate the opinions of the economically educated and the economy students.

The Internet survey lasted for 3 days and had a response rate at 75%, which is very high considering the large number of employees on business travel. The results showed that more than 85 % of the employees were very satisfied with their workplace. The results were presented and discussed at a Monday meeting, and the report is posted on the intranet for everybody to see.

The results from the other survey concerning the public view on Riksgäldskontoret were not surprising. As expected, very few had knowledge of the business of Riksgäldskontoret, which made it hard for them to give a clear opinion. However most of them had a positive attitude. The economist committee had a broader knowledge of the business and they found Riksgäldskontoret a reliable, professional organisation. The customer service was especially complimented.

How did the results from the three surveys help the branding campaign? "It was very useful," says Simon Kamras, planner at StoråkersMcCann. Before we conducted the surveys we had set up a number of hypotheses. When we received the results, we were able to compare the hypothesis to the results, discover where similarities and differences were and confirm or dismiss a number of hypotheses and thereby lead the branding campaign in the right direction.

It is comforting to rely on the results based on such a thorough survey as this. We use different methods for gathering information and this time Zapera was the best solution. We are most definitely going to use Zapera in the future.

Source: Zapera News, Issue 22, May 2006